How to gamify your work in 2025
Read Time: 4 min
I'm sick of all those “gamification specialists” out there.
What they sell as “gamification” doesn't work.
They try to manipulate users to take actions the users don't want to take.
This manipulation has none of the positive effects that games have on their players.
But it has all the harmful effects of poorly designed games.
I developed video games for 10 years and built my own game studio.
As a game designer, I create fun, engaging environments for my players.
Why aren't we doing the same for our work?
I don't want to manipulate my team into doing their work.
I want them to be engaged and motivated to give their best work for free.
And "real” gamification does precisely that.
Today, I will show you my Complete Gamify Work System, which you can use to make your work engaging and fun.
I created this system using my experience as a game designer and everything I learned leading my team for the past 6 years.
The result is entirely different from any other gamification framework out there.
I won't tell you to add useless point systems or rewards to your broken processes.
Adding more things to a broken system won't magically fix them.
On the contrary, we must remove things from broken systems to fix them.
When I design games, this is precisely what I do to make them fun.
I remove everything that is not fun until only the fun parts are left.
Ask yourself why the most fun games are also the most simple ones.
I will give you all the necessary tools to fix your processes and system.
So you can optimize your work for fun on your own.
Remember:
Fun is energizing.
When you're energized, you stay consistent.
And consistency will bring you to your goal faster.
My complete gamify work system
>> Steal my Complete Gamify Work System here.
I see every process, system, or task as a game.
Everyone can tell you immediately if a game is fun or not for them.
Playing more fun games is the only way to have more fun at work.
The Complete Gamify Work System has two phases:
Collect your games.
Fix your games.
1. Collect your games
First, we need a way to measure the effect of what we're doing.
Our KPI is happiness.
We're doing good if we become happier and sustain that happiness at work.
Otherwise, we will need to try a different approach.
Start tracking your happiness or mood twice daily, once before and after work, on a scale of 1 to 10.
10: You could not be happier in life.
1: You don't want to continue with this life.
Track your mood for two weeks and calculate the rolling average.
Having single bad days is ok.
We're interested in the bigger picture.
At the same time, track all the tasks, systems, and processes you're involved in at work.
Track these three columns in a spreadsheet:
Duration: Time spent on task.
Name: What is the task you're doing?
Energy: Is this task charging, neutral, or draining for you?
I prepared an Activities tracking sheet for you here:
Now, you need to get to know yourself better.
First, we want to know what motivates and demotivates you.
For that, take the motivator test and check your results.
What are your strongest motivators?
What are the weakest that might even be demotivators for you?
Lastly, you need a vision of your perfect workday.
If you don't know where you're going, you don't know if you will get closer.
Write it out in as much detail as you can.
What are your tasks and responsibilities?
Who do you work with?
How do you work with these people?
What decisions are you involved in?
How are your efforts appreciated and acknowledged?
So, now that you have collected all your games, you can start fixing them.
2. Fix your games
Take your Activities list and fill in the following columns:
Motivators: Which of the 12 motivators and demotivators are present in this task?
Eliminate?: Can you eliminate this task because it doesn't bring value?
Automate?: Can you automate this task so no human needs to do it anymore?
Delegate?: Can someone else do this task who has more fun doing it?
To Who?: To whom could you hand this task off?
Fix?: Is this a task that needs fixing or not? Every task that is draining needs fixing.
Start with the most draining, time-consuming task and work your way to the neutral tasks.
Focus your efforts on these tasks that need fixing, and don't eliminate the tasks that charge you the most.
That would be like removing the fun elements from your game.
The easiest wins are the activities that you can eliminate.
Most companies have many tasks and processes that don't bring value but still exist.
Ask yourself:
What good things happen to me/ the company/ the customer when I do this task?
What bad things happen to me/ the company / the customer when I don't do this task?
If no good or bad things are the result, don't ever do this task again.
If you can't eliminate it, automate it.
What a machine can do shouldn't be done by a human.
If that is also not a possibility, delegate it.
It's crucial to eliminate and automate first; otherwise, you waste someone else's time.
Only try to fix the bad games you can't get rid of another way.
To fix your bad games, we need to look at the motivators involved.
This is precisely the process I use to fix my games:
What demotivators are involved in this task?
How could you cut or replace the parts of the task that demotivate me?
What motivators are involved in this task?
How could these motivators become more present during this task?
How can I add my strongest motivators to this task if they're not present yet?
For example:
I don't like a lot of competition, so how can I do this task without being compared to others?
I like to discover new things. Are there ways that would allow me to experiment more with this task?
I'm strongly motivated when I complete things. So, making our progress visible could help me have more fun.
I don't give you explicit “Game Mechanics” on purpose.
Those mechanics would only limit your creative thinking.
You don't need game mechanics to fix your games.
Follow the fun, and cut everything that isn't fun from your games.
Repeat this process until all tasks on your Activity list are neutral or charging.
Following this system, your average mood should increase significantly within a few weeks.
If not, go back to collecting your games and see if there are other energy drainers that you missed before.
You can copy my Complete Gamify Work System using the link below.
I also added a template for all the tracking and exercises that are ready to download.
>> Download my Complete Gamify Work System.
Let me know when you use the system.
I would love to hear your feedback.
If you want help implementing this system for your case, shoot me a message on LinkedIn.
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Thanks for reading to the end!
You rock!
Cheers,
Marcel